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I found today’s “Quote of the Day” in a set of articles about wind generation during peak demand. While wind is a great supplemental source of electricity, it is at its exact worst during the two peak demand curves of the year.

In today’s “Stat of the Day” I focused on Scotland and its need to import electricity from nuclear plants in France during the latest winter storms. Here is the bookend to that Stat.

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from Down Under, where Summer peak Air Conditioning loads can not rely on wind generation because…

“The reduction in wind generation during peak periods, or at the hottest times of the day, is partially attributed to limits placed on some turbines at high temperatures to prevent overheating,” an AEMO spokeswoman said.

“During the top 10 per cent of summer peak demand periods, approximately three per cent of total wind generation-installed capacity contributed to demand.”

Energy Users Association of Australia executive director Roman Domanski said wind power was intermittent and difficult to rely on and other power sources must be built to provide householders and businesses with guaranteed summer supplies. “Wind does not work on hot days and there’s been incidents,” he said. “That obviously means we’re going to have to build more generation.”

So during winter storms or during summer’s heat, Wind Generation is the last form of electricity production you want to rely on. Wind has a place in all electricity generation mixes, it just does not have a serious future in providing a base-load supply during peak usages periods. It is a niche product that needs harvesting on site in the form of producing a secondary product like hydrogen. You can than reuse the liquid hydrogen as an energy source that is available on demand.